January 10, 2005

RATHERGATE REPORT RELEASED -- MAPES FIRED AT CBS NEWS. THE AP story is here. CBS News has it's own story here.

The complete CBS commission report is here (pdf).

Blog reactions here.

Note well -- CBS News is still running its political campaign against George Bush's National Guard service in the right hand column of their "apology" for all this!!

A whitewash? According to the AP, "The independent investigators .. said they could find no evidence to conclude the report was fueled by a political agenda."

Jonah Goldberg:

"From the section of the report on the suggestion that the Memogate story was attributable to any political agenda:

The Panel is aware that some have ascribed political motivations to 60 Minutes Wednesday�s decision to air the September 8 Segment just two months before the presidential election, while others further found political bias in the program itself. The Panel reviewed this issue and found certain actions that could support such charges. However, the Panel cannot conclude that a political agenda at 60 Minutes Wednesday drove either the timing of the airing of the Segment or its content.

Given that the Panel does not believe that political motivations drove the September 8 Segment, questions likely will be raised as to why these massive breakdowns occurred on this story at an organization like CBS News with its heritage and stated commitment to the highest standards of journalism. The Panel heard from many that the Rather/Mapes team was a formidable force at 60 Minutes Wednesday. Great trust was placed in Mapes, a highly respected producer who had just produced a widely acclaimed segment on the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, and vast deference was given to Rather, the �face� of CBS News. These factors, along with the �crash� of the production, contributed greatly to the failures of the September 8 Segment and the Aftermath.

Translation: Because we cannot do a conclusive Vulcan mind-meld with Dan Rather and Ms. Mapes to prove they were motivated in part by partisan lust and anti-Bush fervor we must conclude that they were not."

Others fired:

Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday".

Betsy West, senior vice president.

Mary Murphy, Josh Howard's chief deputy.

More on Rathergate here, here and here. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack